Certain Kind of Courage
by theMoirae3
Summary: Courage, noun: The quality of being brave; the ability to face danger, difficulty, uncertainty, or pain without being overcome by fear or being deflected from a chosen course of action.


**Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter or any canon characters.**

It takes a certain kind of courage…

_i to laugh_

_Sirius_

God only knows how long he's been in Azkaban, because he certainly doesn't. He spends his days trying to remember the good times and his nights trying to block out the bad ones. One day, as he huddles in the corner, trying desperately to escape the creeping cold and his cousin's screams, he remembers. A gilded, sunny day, spent outside, laughing and chatting and playing with a small black-haired baby. The memory is swept away almost as quickly as it comes, but not before he can laugh at a long-forgotten joke. To him, that's courage.

_ii to cry_

_Harry_

All his life, he's been taught that showing emotion is weakness. No one cares what he feels. No one will comfort him in his sorrow. For sixteen years, he hides his grief, turning it to rage and moodiness. When he learns the truth about his parents' death, when he loses his godfather, when he is forced to watch the people he cares about tortured and killed as he carries the weight of the world on his shoulders, not once do tears fall from his famed emerald eyes. Only as his opponent falls for the last time, as the weight of prophecy is lifted, does he allow himself to sink to his knees and cry. To him, that's courage.

_iii to live_

_Remus_

He's alone. He's lost his friends, his family, the only people to truly accept him for who he is, not what he becomes once a month. Three dead, betrayed by a fourth, and an innocent child left alone in the world, cut off from his only remaining family. He's alone, and the monthly transformations grow harder and harder, each one bringing up painful memories of happier days. It would be so easy to end it. A muttered incantation, a silver dagger, a shimmering potion… no. He continues his wretched existence. To him, that's courage.

_iv to die_

_Lily_

She knows that to stand her ground is to die, swiftly and painlessly, but to die nonetheless. To leave her son alone in the world, to never set the record straight, to give up the feeble hope that her husband has survived…but to stand aside is to allow her baby to die. She stands her ground. To her, that's courage.

_v to turn traitor_

_Peter_

For the first time since the Sorting Hat was placed on his head six years ago, he feels like he belongs in Gryffindor. He's more afraid of what his friends will do if- no when- they find out than what the Dark Lord will do if he doesn't agree to join, but he joins anyway. To him, that's courage.

_vi to become a spy_

_Severus_

He knows what the Dark Lord does to traitors. He is not expected to change sides. He has been given no guarantees of sanctuary. But he owes James Potter his life, so he will save his. He betrayed Lily Evans once, and he will not do it again. He has much to repent for, but he is determined that allowing the Potters to die will not be one of them. He will sell his master's secrets to the enemy. To him, that's courage.

_vii to fight_

_Neville_

He's always been weak, stupid, practically a squib. He's never lived up to his parents' memories. He's never had friends, he doesn't do well in classes, and he keeps losing his toad. He's hardly a hero. But when Harry needs his help, he volunteers. He knows that the war has started again and maybe, just maybe, he can help. He decides to fight. To him, that's courage.

_viii to embrace the light_

_Regulus_

He wasn't the Gryffindor, like Sirius. He wasn't the handsome, funny, brave, charismatic, perfect son. His only chance at his parents' love laid in the Dark Arts and Merlin help him, but he took it. But Merlin can't help him with this choice. He knows something that will destroy the Dark Lord, but he isn't strong like Sirius. He doesn't know what to choose. He ends up sacrificing himself to sow the seeds of Voldemort's destruction. He embraces the light. To him, that's courage.

_ix to trust_

_Ron_

He's always had trouble trusting people. He loves his family and believes in what he thinks is right, but he's always been afraid that he'll be left behind. Harry has never left him behind before, not on purpose and not when he had a choice. But Harry is a Champion and Ron isn't and it's easier to ignore him than to trust him when he says he didn't want it. But as he watches Harry fly circles around a dragon, he does something he's never done before. He trusts Harry Potter. To him, that's courage.

_x to believe_

_Hermione_

All her life, she has relied on facts and figures, on what she read in books and learned from teachers. But one day she realizes that facts aren't always correct and that authority figures can lie. On that day she realizes that the only thing she can truly depend on is a quiet and moody boy with messy black hair and stormy green eyes. She believes in Harry Potter, wholly, utterly, and completely. To her, that's courage.

_xi to truly see_

_Luna_

For as long as she can remember, she's seen things no one else can. She has an ability no one else has. Her mother dedicated years to researching it, only to end up dead. She denied it then, believing that to keep it lock away was to prevent tragedy. But the disaster at the Department of Mysteries, a disaster she could have prevented, made her open her eyes again. To her, that's courage.

_xii to love_

_Ginny_

After Tom Riddle betrayed her, she closed her heart. She could still trust, she could still believe, she could still let people in... But only to a certain point. She refused to let herself love. But he was the one person in the world she could see herself truly loving, and so different from the boy who had betrayed her, so she let him in. To her, that's courage.

_xiii to hide_

_James_

He's a Gryffindor. He's brave and bold and daring. He's supposed to be the hero. He's not supposed to run away. But he's forced to choose between standing and fighting or hiding to protect his son. He's a Gryffindor. Running away is something he's never even considered. He's not sure he evens knows how. He chooses to hide. To him, that's courage.

**A/N: I'm of the opinion that Ginny is the weakest link here. I tried to fix it, and it's a lot better than what I originally had, but for some reason I just couldn't get hers the way I wanted it. Oh well.**


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